Meditations

Marcus Aurelius is a name I've often encountered - his words quoted at the beginning of novels or mentioned in passing by 'intellectual' characters - so, on spotting this reissued translation of his Meditations on NetGalley, I couldn't help but to request the book. Unsurprisingly for a work that's over eighteen centuries old, there are many translations in existence so I feel lucky that this very readable Martin Hammond translation was the one to find me. I accept the irony of a book reviewer who got a free ARC saying this, but I believe it is worth paying for this particular Aurelius-Hammond partnership. Yes, you can also get free Marcus Aurelius Meditations ebooks, but their reviews are dire!

This Penguin Classics edition begins with a lengthy essay by Diskin Clay that gives a lot of reasonably interesting background information about Aureliys, his life and times. It's admittedly nowhere near as pompous as other Classics introductions I've read in the past, but I did find it a harder slog than Marcus himself. Once I made it through to the Meditations, I was blown away! This book is amazing! I really felt as though each paragraph was someone speaking directly to me, and speaking meaningfully. Not every exhortation was vividly eye-opening of course. This particular one is patently ridiculous:

And give up your thirst for books so that you do not die a grouch Seriously, Marcus? Not going to happen!

However other guidance like:

Most of what we say and do is unnecessary; remove the superfluity, and you will have more time and less bother

or

All things are short lived - this is their common lot - yet you pursue likes and dislikes as if all was fixed for eternity.

were scarily pertinent!

I could immediately understand the idea of Marcus Aurelius being a life guide and of reading a paragraph or so a day as my own personal Meditation. I am even sorely tempted to buy myself a good paper edition to crease and annotate as I do. I am still struggling to get my head around how a philosopher from nearly two millennia ago can be as insightful and relevant to right now, yet he is. Thank you Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this potentially life-changing book.

It's difficult to review a book that has been read by many thousands or millions of people over the past two thousand years or so, including world leaders, philosophers and other academics, athletes, and everyday people who just want to live their best lives possible. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome (161-180), was never intended to be read by anyone other than its author. It is a collection of Aurelius' thoughts as they occurred to him, presumably over the course of his life. This book has no plot, no story arc, and no relatable characters, per se. Instead, it's a record of his daily journal that has been translated, interpreted, and transcribed repeatedly down through the ages. The individual entries have been compiled into 12 books, which are loosely arranged in chronological order; although there is some debate about that.

This book is remarkable for two important reasons. It provides a glimpse into the thoughts of a Roman emperor, and it defines his personal life philosophy. Aurelius was a student of Stoic philosophy, which he carried with him throughout his life. Meditations represents his version of Stoic philosophy as he applied it to his own life. It's this philosophy that informed his approach not just as a ruler, but also as a human being. The philosophical virtues that were important to Aurelius and other ancient Stoic philosophers transcend time and are just as applicable today as they were back then.

This is not a book to be read once and returned to the shelf to collect dust. It's meant to be read slowly and repeatedly; it's meant to be studied. I found myself often reflecting on individual passages while I searched for ways these ideas were relevant to me and my own circumstances. I've only read this book once, but it's clear to me that new revelations are likely to emerge with each subsequent reading. Very few books can maintain their relevance beyond a few decades, let alone centuries or millennia. But this one does. This is one book to which I will return often as I polish my own personal philosophy, as so many have done before me.

A book worth rereading again and again. The moral aspect of the book is what attracted me in the first place and after finishing the book, I must say that I am not disappointed at all. This book helped me realize and learn not to be disappointed no matter what fate has for me, that we all are one in nature and one with nature and must carry on living our life without being a puppet on the strings controlled by the agents of emotion.

There's so much more to this book that I can go on about and not properly summarize. But I would say that this is one of the books that will help you think about so many aspects of life, so many walks of life, and help you not be worried and keep on going forward with a morale boost.

Thanks to the person who recommended this book to me.

Nothing will ever kill the interest in the Roman Empire. The popularity for it ebbs and flows, but there'll always be enough people fascinated by the Europe of that time to make books, television shows and movies do well. [b:Meditations|1168191|Meditations|Marcus Aurelius|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383681793l/1168191.SY75.jpg|31010] by Marcus Aurelius (C.E. 121–180) is an excellent example of why. The version I got was translated by [a:Gregory Hays|446105|Gregory Hays|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] after reading reviews of translations by others. (A general rule I heard years ago is to always go with the most recent translation, but remember: that's a general rule, meaning it's meant to be broken often.)
At times it reads almost like a modern self-help book, but with an oldish use of language. From Book Three:

12. If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment—
If you can embrace this without fear or expectation—can find fulfillment in what you're doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)—then your life will be happy.
No one can prevent that.
13. Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them. Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth.
14. Stop drifting. You're not going to re-read your Brief Comments, your Deeds of the Ancient Greeks and Romans,the commonplace books you saved for your old age. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you still can.

40. The world as a living being—one nature, one soul, keep that in mind. And how everything feeds into that single experience, moves with a single motion. And how everything helps produce everything else. Spun and woven together.
41. A little wisp of soul carrying a corpse."—Epictetus
42. There is nothing bad in undergoing change—or good in emerging from it.
43. Time is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.

Reading the personal insights of one of the most powerful men in the world during his time, and understanding that the problems he faced are very much the same as the ones we face today is incredibly humbling. To be kind, compassionate, selfless, humble, grateful, sober, diligent and grounded.

To realise that the only factor we can control is our reaction to things. We can't control how other people will react, what they think, the weather, traffic and a myriad of other elements. We can only control what it in our mind.
"External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them, which you can erase now"

That happiness, contentment and peace is internal. To stop prying into what other people are thinking about and seeking their validation, rather than our own. We are all running different races so it is foolish to compare. I love this quote :

"Ambition means tying your well being to what other people say or do. Self indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own thoughts"

To realise that our lives are brief and can end at any time. That we will be forgotten and that isn't depressing. Therefore it is even more important to be grateful and stay in the present moment. Not to let thoughts of the future, of what 'could' happen, what has happened, take over your mind. To be grateful for family, friends and your present moment.
"The only rewards of our existence here are an unstained character and unselfish acts".

Although not from this book, I love this quote :
"“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”


Most of our obstacles are internal and this clearly hasn't changed in the past 2000+ years. Marcus Aurelius struggled with what we do today, anger, fear, anxiety, thinking about what other people do or say. This is truly a one of a kind book and one that is full of aphorisms and applicable wisdom.

I was having a hard time getting through this and wondered why, and finally decided it was because it is boring. The book collects the tweet-like notes of [a:Marcus Aurelius|17212|Marcus Aurelius|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1225676437p2/17212.jpg], mostly self-chastisements or self-encouragements accompanied by reminders about the insignificance of human life and fame and the importance of meeting what fate throws at you with calm, steady resolve.

That's all well and good, but it gets repetitive, and often requires you to accept a pretty dogmatic stoicism and some dubious accompanying metaphysical assumptions in order for it to speak to you and your own situation.

The best thing about it is the attitude demonstrated by [a:Marcus Aurelius|17212|Marcus Aurelius|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1225676437p2/17212.jpg] -- constantly examining himself and trying to remove all the obstacles he's tempted to put in his own path on his way to becoming a more noble person. While his specific advice might not be particularly inspiring, this attitude of relentless self-criticism and self-improvement should be.

Might I be a better person today if every evening I had paused to remember something in the day I could have done better and written myself up a nice aphorism summing up where I had gone astray or what I could have done differently?